National Inuit organization looks to tackle inequality with new poverty reduction strategy

Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami (ITK) is looking to minimize socieconomic gaps between Inuit and non-Indigenous Canadians with a new poverty reduction strategy.

The document, released Tuesday in Ottawa, cites 2023 Statistics Canada data suggesting that 41 per cent of Inuit families lived below the poverty line, compared to 11 per cent of Canadians overall.

ITK’s president, Natan Obed, says a key principle ingrained in the new strategy is the idea of creating “whole” people, with all aspects of life being inter-connected.

“We know that people want to be contributing members of society, they want to have connections with family, they want to be able to teach the things that they know so that there is intergenerational succession of Inuit knowledge,” Obed said.

“The data that goes into a poverty statement is only partially complete for you, meaning that it isn’t just about how much people make or how expensive things are to buy.”